Most workshops teach craft - this three day/four-night Creativity Retreat for Writers held at the boutique Bundanoon Guest House in the beautiful Southern Highlands, ignited our imagination. Participants arrived on the afternoon of Sunday 12 April and departed on morning of Thursday 16 April. Over three inspiring days of workshops delivered in a peaceful rural village setting with Dr Betty O'Neill, we entered a creative playground that unlocked bold ideas, vivid stories, and new ways of thinking. Guided by the four quadrants of creative intelligence - imagination, intuition, insight, and inspiration - we dabbled with playful, research-based practices from neuroscience, psychology, and the arts as our innate creativity met storytelling magic. With time to write, reflect, and connect, we left with fresh tools, confidence, and renewed creative energy for our storytelling. 

Workshop Program: 
Monday 13 April: Opening the Creative Mind – Awareness & Curiosity 
On this first day we delved into our writing brains and mindsets, explored the barriers that hold us back from reaching our creative potential as writers. We harnessed design thinking and neuroscience techniques to breakthrough the barriers, spark curiosity and learn ways of thinking in flexible, original and divergent ways.

Tuesday 14 April: Expanding the Creative Mind – Risk & Imagination
Day 2 was spent experimenting with a range of creative tools and processes as we mined the unexpected, dipped into our innate creative well and explored writing elements that fascinated and engage ourselves and will also engage our readers. It was a day to be bold and adventurous as we mixed strategies and intuitions to shape our stories and characters and find the details that make them vivid and alive on the page. 

Wednesday 15 April: Integrating the Creative Mind – Vision & Flow
On our final day, we embodied the alchemist, turning our ideas and discoveries into story gold as we played with structure and style, experimenting with various storytelling frameworks. We concluded by using design thinking to determine what will sustain our creative flow and vision for ourselves as writers and left with a toolkit of creative processes to draw on whenever inspiration runs dry.

Afternoons were free for us to write, rest or enjoy all that Bundanoon and the Southern Highlands has to offer.  Bundanoon is the gateway to Morton National Park where there are an abundance of walking trails including to nearby Glow Worm Glen (Bring a strong torch if planning to visit during your stay). There is also an outdoor swimming pool, cafes, boutique shops and the historic Bundanoon Hotel. In the broader area of the Highlands we found art galleries, wineries, shopping, walking and cycling trails, and golf courses.  The Bookshop Bowral and Berkelow’s Book Barn were not to be missed.

Prior to dinner each evening we gathered for what Betty has called a ‘Writers’ Playground’.    
After dinner we joined a 'Reflection Circle' where we looked back on the day – the highlights, the learnings, the challenges plus participated in journalling on all that our creative mind revealed that day.  
Evening activities ended at 8:30pm when we were free to chat with other writers or retreat to the comfort of our own room.

Accommodation:
This Retreat was held in the heritage listed, boutique Bundanoon Guest House where our group had exclusive use of all facilities.  Built in 1925, the fully renovated guest house retains all the charm of yesteryear and is located in the sleepy Southern Highlands village of Bundanoon, mid-way between Sydney and Canberra, or a 90-minute drive from Wollongong. Bundanoon is also accessible by train. The location of Brigadoon – the annual Scottish Highlands gathering, areas of Bundanoon village were also featured in the film, The Appleton Ladies Potato Race.

Exclusive use of the Guest House included all lounge areas and assured our group of absolute privacy when discussing our writing projects. 

We were accommodated in our own room with ensuite. Many guest rooms hada view to the surrounding garden. There were also ample of areas where we could quietly write or gather to chat with fellow participants.  Breakfast, lunch, dinner and morning tea was included.

All placements were residential and in line with our commitment to provide small quality events, the retreat was limited to 12 participants. This Retreat was fully booked with a waitlist.

Bio:
Dr Betty O'Neill has a Doctorate of Creative Arts, a Grad. Dip. Music Therapy, M. Bus., a Grad. Dip. Employment Relations, a B. Sc. (Hons), a B.A. (History & Psychology)Betty is a Sydney-based author, workshop and retreat facilitator, and university lecturer in Creative Intelligence and Innovation in the TD (Transdisciplinary) School at the University of Technology Sydney. She has a passion for learning, as her eclectic range of degrees attests, most recently a Doctorate of Creative Arts, and her teaching is underpinned with sound research, interactive processes and creativity. Betty loves facilitating writing workshops and retreats, talking writing, books and creativity and paddling the waterways in her inflatable kayak. As a past Director of the Board of the Society of Australian Genealogy (SAG), Betty has a passion for memoir and family history and facilitates regular Introduction to Writing Family History workshops for both SAG and Writing NSW. Betty’s debut memoir, The Other Side of Absence, was published in 2020, and she has also published a range of articles and book chapters and presented conference papers and workshops in Australia and overseas. Betty is currently researching and writing a memoir/family history on intergenerational homelessness.